“The War Is Not Over Yet”: photo exhibition about Russia’s crimes against media workers opens in Ternopil

A photo exhibition opened on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard in Ternopil to tell the story of Ukrainian and foreign journalists, camera people, photographers, fixers who have been killed, injured, or kidnapped since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. In total, the Russians have committed more than 500 crimes against the media since February 24, 2022. 

According to the Institute of Mass Information, 63 media workers were killed as of July 11, 2023. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 10 journalists (four Ukrainian citizens and six foreigners) were killed while performing their professional duties, 53 media workers were killed while participating in military operations, as a result of Russian shelling or torture. 

The exhibition tells the stories of media workers because it is thanks to their work that the world learns news from the front and sees evidence of Russian war crimes. One of them is the story of Ternopil journalist Vitaliy Derekh who was killed in battle near Popasna. 

“Journalists, photographers, camera people – each of them records this terrible war to bear witness to the crimes and preserve the memory of these events in history for future generations. In addition to the information front, many Ukrainian journalists became fighters of the real front, where they continued the struggle already with weapons in their hands. And many of them, like Vitaliy Derekh from Ternopil, started it from the Maidan. This exhibition is about the memory we preserve by telling their stories and the respect we pay to the struggle of media workers for the truth,” said Olha Savenok, head of the educational and organizational department of the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity. 

“Journalists usually remain off-screen. We learn about war crimes, about civilian tragedies, but we don’t know about the people who risk their lives to record these stories. Their names become known when they are injured, captured, or killed. This exhibition is a reminder of how important and dangerous the work of journalists is nowadays, of what they risk for the world to learn about the war in Ukraine. Because there are living people and the tragedies of their families behind these photos. It is especially important to talk about this in relatively safe regions, such as, for example, Ternopil region. Because many of our colleagues not only travel to war zones to make reports but also fight in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And they give their lives… The exhibition also features the story of our Vitaliy Derekh, who was killed while performing a combat mission in Luhansk region on May 28, 2022. The other day, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine,” said Iryna Nebesna, journalist, representative of the Institute of Mass Information in Ternopil region, during the opening of the exhibition. 

Vitaliy Derekh was an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity: he was a member of the 15th sotnia [unit] of Maidan Self-Defense, he was saving people on Instytutska Street on February 20. In the spring of 2014, he joined the Aidar Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a volunteer and fought in it until July 2015. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he once again took up arms and stood up for the defense of Ukraine – he took an active part in the battles near Kyiv and in Luhansk region. Vitaliy Derekh was recently awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. 

In Ternopil, The War Is Not Over Yet exhibition will last until August 9. 

Earlier, the project was already presented in Poltava, Kyiv, Boyarka, Vinnytsia, Odesa, and Kharkiv. 

Organizers: PEN Ukraine, Institute of Mass Information, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity, Georgy Gongadze Prize. 

Regional partners: branch of the NGO “Family of Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred” in Ternopil region, NGO “Ternopil Press Club”. 

Photo credit: Tetiana Kolesnik